Posted on 02/17/2003 7:23:34 AM PST by sfwarrior
The very spring and root of honesty and virtue lie in good education. -- Plutarch
A major education bill signed on Jan. 8, 2002, by President Bush is about to create havoc across the land. The No Child Left Behind Act is the most sweeping reform since the Elementary and Secondary Education Act was enacted in 1965.
The No Child Left Behind Act redefines the federal role in K-12 education and aims to close the achievement gap between disadvantaged and minority students and their more privileged peers. It has several basic principles that conservatives like: stronger accountability for results, increased flexibility and local control, expanded options for parents and an emphasis on teaching methods that have been proven to work.
The act also had a feature that liberals so well loved that even Sen. Edward Kennedy signed on as co-sponsor of the bill; it authorizes big bucks for local schools, an unprecedented outlay of $26.5 billion. However, another of the act's original features, authorization of school vouchers, was gutted in the final bill.
Even so, the act has many local education establishments sweating bullets as accountability deadlines in the bill start creeping up on them. By the end of last month, states were to have given the U.S. Department of Education their plans for holding schools accountable and for reporting progress in student proficiency. Beginning in the fall of 2005, states must give reading and mathematics tests to every child each year in grades 3 through 8. Failure to provide timely information can lead to the loss of tens of millions of dollars for each school district.
Schools with scores that don't measure up will get more money, but their students must also be offered the option of transferring to other schools. This is a revolutionary first step that many critics are now calling a prelude to the introduction of federal school vouchers. Furthermore, if a school is judged to be failing for three years, the school district must pay for tutors (called supplemental service providers) chosen by the parents.
In addition, the act has three little-known provisions that have created major discomforts for liberal school-district administrators across the nation.
-- First, it permits prayer in public schools by trying to clarify what is constitutionally permitted. The regulations that implement the act, citing numerous Supreme Court cases, conclude that prayer may be said in public schools under the following basis:
"Nothing in the Constitution prohibits any public school student from voluntarily praying at any time before, during or after the school day, and students may pray with fellow students during the school day on the same terms and conditions that they may engage in other conversation... READ THE REST OF THIS STORY- IT GETS WAY BETTER!
(Excerpt) Read more at sfgate.com ...
The Underground History of American Education by John Taylor Gatto
The Deliberate Dumbing Down of America by Charlotte Iserbyt
Communications Workers of America v. Beck
It's not theory; it's documented fact. Iserbyt's book has over 200 pages of references to primary source documents.
The third link was to a Supreme Court decision that allows union workers to withdraw the portion of their dues that is used for political activism. It is our primary tool to be used against the NEA. Cut off their money.
I am always interested in the primary source!
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